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Thursday, February 23, 2017

An Epic Day

Hello Everyone,

Grab a cup of coffee, and enjoy the images, and words chronicling our epic trip to Yosemite yesterday.

We've been rained in at the cabin forever. We received over 8" of rain in 2-1/2 days. We've been without power, Internet, phone, and TV sporadically for the past week. Over the breakfast table yesterday morning, we saw blue sky and made a quick decision to drive to Yosemite. It didn't start off well.

It snowed over night and then it froze solid. Mr. Joe drove the car out of the garage and onto our steep driveway so we could load it up with our picnic lunch, snow boots, our Geezer lifetime pass to all National Parks, heavy coats, and Mazey. When we went to load the car, we went through the garage, but we couldn't get the garage door open. Well, we quickly discovered the driverless car slid down the driveway and came to rest against the garage door. Not a good angle of repose for a car. Note to self: Leave car at all time in the garage and not on the slippery slope.

I checked the Yosemite webpage and saw there was basically only one road open to the park. A normal drive to Yosemite takes about 2-1/2 hours. Yesterday we had to tack on an additional hour as you can't make good time on the curvy road below from Coulterville to Mariposa. (It was much nicer coming home in the dark, because I couldn't see the sheer cliffs!) Tack on another half-hour for darkness on the way home. If I had to rate this road, it would be a 4 Dramamine road for my sister Gail. I am not prone to hurling, she is.

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The reward for our persistence was this view from Inspiration Point. We were gobsmacked! I love using that word.

Heavenly views in all directions.﻿

Half Dome covered in snow.

The "spiritualness" of this park is beyond words. I said a prayer at the chapel for my friend Barbara. Surely God heard me.

We walked to lower Yosemite Falls. One could hear the roar of the falls from miles away.

Here's a glimpse of upper and lower Yosemite Falls.

There are many elegant bridges in the park dating back to the 1920's.

The absolute highlight of the day was seeing the natural firefall at Horsetail Falls at sunset. It is just beginning to start with a glow at the bottom of this picture.

Many things have to fall into place in order for this natural phenomena to occur. There has to be water in the falls, and it has to be clear for the setting sun to hit the falls at just the right angle. We experienced snow throughout the entire day so you can imagine how thrilled we were when the clouds parted. Over the span of about 10 minutes, we were witnesses to the incredible show of nature.

The amazing glow peaked at this point, about 8 minutes after the first glow began.

Then it slowly changes to a light pink. We were double gobsmacked.

We were incredibly fortunate to witness this event. We couldn't stop talking about it on the windy, 4-hour ride home in the dark.

I'm sitting at the dining room table writing this post, watching a light snowfall, remembering yesterday shared with Mr. Joe, and feeling very blessed. The car, and the garage door aren't feeling so lucky.

Incredible photos, Lynn, especially the "heavenly" glow on the falls! That's one of those special lifetime moments you will remember forever! Wish I could have been there but the 4 Dramamine road would have been a challenge! I'd be walkin!

As I was reading this, I'm thinking to myself are these people crazy . . . when the weather is that bad, I "chicken-up" and stay home, you go on a picnic and drive on challenging roads. Now understand that "Picnic" is one of my absolute favorite words in the English language. When I hear that word my heart flutters, but not when the roads are that bad. After seeing your photos of Yosemite I am "gobsmacked" whatever that means . . . this is the first time I'm heard it. I'm thinking in awe. You saw views that you would have never seen in summer and totally worth the trip, especially now that you are home safe and cozy. I've never been there . . . I do hope that your insurance will cover your garage door and thank you for sharing these photos with us. I'm going to come back and show them to my husband later today. The Firefall is awesome, what an amazing thing to see.Connie :)

Oh Lynn - Bravo to you both! Mr. Squash would be walkin' with Gail, but I'd be in the back seat cheering you on! I saw a photo of the firefall on the US Interior's Instagram site the other day and was blown away. That you could see it in person is fantastic! Glad you got there and back in one piece. Now you have a great story to tell the grandkids!Cheers!

Lynn these where phenomenal pictures and the commentary with it was priceless. Just a side note, my sister and Gail would have been on the floor of the back seat or hurling out the window. When my sis was here for our coastal trip we could not travel coastal Hwy 1 because she does not like cliffs or curves. She gets spooky driving around the San Louis Reservoir. Anyway, it sounds like You and Mr. Joe had the best tip ever. Thank you so much for sharing. You are also a gifted photographer.

I'm sitting here now singing "Memories" looking at some of the photos. The firewall is amazing. As for that road, well, I'd cope by just turning and looking out the other side window and chatting to anyone in the car who isn't throwing up at the time 😊